


Inkwell: Running Ink Sidestories

by Masterweaver



Series: Running Ink Verse [2]
Category: Splatoon
Genre: Anthology, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-25
Updated: 2018-07-24
Packaged: 2019-06-15 21:56:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15422451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Masterweaver/pseuds/Masterweaver
Summary: The adventures of the New Squidbeak Splatoon are, of course, world-shaking dramas that could well determine the future of Inkopolis.They are not the only events in Inkopolis, though.Here are gathered a few short tales from the world of Running Ink, with not nearly so much staked upon them.





	Inkwell: Running Ink Sidestories

"So, hey, Marina. You want to go catch that new action movie?"

Marina smiled. "Well, I do, but I don't."

Pearl sighed. "Not this again... Can't you make up your mind?"

"Well, let's go--"

"No no no. Either you do want to go, or you don't. Come on, Marina, help me out here."

"I do want to go," Marina assured her quickly. "I just don't want to go."

Pearl clutched at her tentacles. "What is that supposed to mean? Do you have mixed feelings about this or something?"

Marina frowned. "... _Mixed_ feelings?"

"Uh, yeah, like when you feel different things about the same thing."

"Well... I have different feelings, but they aren't mixed. I'm not crazy."

"You're sounding pretty crazy to me," Pearl grumbled.

"Look, I want to go, and I don't want to go. Alright?" Marina crossed her arms. "So are we going?"

"That doesn't make sense!" Pearl protested. "Those are... like, two opposite things! I mean I could if you didn't want to go because you wanted to go somewhere else instead, but just not wanting to at the same time you want to?"

"Pearl, come on, don't be ridiculous. Having opposing urges is totally normal." Marina paused. "It... is normal, right?"

"Well, yeah. But you--It's like--" Pearl pinched the brow of her mask. "This isn't like the time when you wanted both chocolate and vanilla ice cream. It's more... like the time you said you wanted to stand and sit at the same time. Or when you thought that piece of fanart was gorgeous  _and_  ugly--"

"I didn't tell the girl it was ugly, I'm not that stupid--"

"You're missing the point, Marina! It's like, sometimes I'm talking to two different people at the same time!"

"What, just because I have conflicting feelings? Is that not normal?"

"No! I mean, yeah--I mean, it's normal to have conflicting feelings, but the way you just so casually say you have flat out opposing feelings, that's just impossible! How can you have conflicting feelings and not be conflicted?"

"The same way everybody does!" Marina shot back. "Like right now I'm angry at you for making such a big deal out of this AND confused that you're making a big deal out of this AND hurt that you're calling me crazy!"

"See, that makes sense! That's all one thing!"

"No it ISN'T! It's three different emotions--four, now, because I'm furious that you're saying they're all the same thing!"

"I'm not saying the emotions are the same, I'm saying they all come from the same place!"

"No they DON'T, Pearl! Four emotions, four hearts!"

Pearl threw up her hands. "YOU'VE ONLY GOT THREE HEARTS!"

"I'm not talking about my  _literal_  hearts, I'm talking about my soulhearts!"

"What the shell is a soulheart?!"

Marina spread her arms in disbelief. "A soulheart! You know, the part of your tentacles that do the feeling?"

Pearl stared at her. "...What, like the skin?"

"No! The  _emotional_  feeling! Like, happy, sad, I want this, I don't want that, that sort of thing!"

"...What?"

"Oh my cod." Marina facepalmed. "The brain matter, in the base, of the tentacle. It's responsible for emotions. That's why you get more than one emotion at a time. This is, like, basic biology."

Pearl held up a finger. "Wait. Hold on. You feel... stuff, like happy and angry and tasty... with brain stuff that's not your main brain?"

"Well, yeah. The main brain is for problem solving, logic, that sort of thing." Marina was giving Pearl an odd look. "Did you seriously not know this?"

"...Marina... Inklings don't have that."

"What?"

"Our tentacles don't have mini-brains," Pearl explained.

"...You... you're serious."

"Yep."

Marina tapped her head with a disbelieving finger. "You're saying all your logic, all your emotions, come from in this one mantle."

"Yeah." Pearl shrugged. "I mean, it's kind of... what it's for, holding all the vitals, right?"

"...Well, I guess," Marina conceded. "You really don't have soulhearts?"

"Hey now," Pearl said with a smirk. "I'd like to think I have a lot of heart and soul."

"Of course, I just mean--the biological soulheart... you don't have that."

"No tentacle mini-brains here."

Marina looked her over. "So you... you're actively controlling your limbs."

"Uh... I guess?" Pearl rubbed the back of her head. "I mean it's all subconscious, really. We have to learn to walk, but once we do we're good."

"Huh. That... explains why your hair is usually so still, actually."

"What, do you not control your tentacles?"

Marina ran a hand through said tentacles, somewhat self consciously. "I mean, I can, obviously. I can take direct control, but if I'm not like... actively grabbing something, or walking somewhere, they'll run on automatic."

Pearl put her hands on her hips with a grin. "So, wait, last week when your hair started clutching at mine--"

"That particular tentacle thought you were very cute," Marina said. "The rest do too, don't get me wrong, that one just thought you were  _very_  cute. At the time." She chuckled awkwardly. "Aaaaaand now it feels embarrassed."

"So... do you not feel your own emotions?"

"What? No, of course I do," Marina said with a glare. "I mean, they're my soulhearts, they're a part of--no, they  _are_  me!"

"Whoa, easy, I'm just clarifying." Pearl held up her hands. "I mean, like I said, Inklings don't have... soulhearts. I just want to make sure I understand, alright?"

Marina took a breath. "...Alright."

"So... you can feel eight different emotions at a time?"

Marina waggled a hand. "Well... Technically yes, but it's usually just different shades of the same one or two emotions. An octarian that's feeling eight  _different_  emotions at the same time is a very, very distressed octarian. Four is... four's about the limit before we get  _really_  hysterical."

"And you're always able to tell what the individual feelings are."

"Well, yes. What, aren't you?"

Pearl chuckled. "Not immediately. Mixed feelings are a pretty normal thing for us Inklings."

"Huh." Marina nodded. "That... actually explains a lot."

The two of them stood there for a moment or two.

"...Soooooo," Pearl finally said. "That new action flick. Do you want to go see it?"

"I do, and I don't."

Pearl rubbed her head with a groan. "What's the ratio of do-to-don't here?"

"Two does, two don'ts, three I like spending time with you's, and one The theatre has great popcorn."

"Really? Which one is that?"

"My left leg soulheart."

"Well... your left leg has great taste," Pearl said with a smirk.


End file.
